"Book Catalogues come in as many forms as booksellers ... What every catalogue has in common - and has had since secondhand booksellers first started issuing catalogues - is that customers or would-be customers everywhere will, whatever its quality, settle on it as though their lives depended on it. For book-buyers are curious folk, curious for knowledge or for a bargain or for that desideratum that has always eluded them, or - just curious. The short-term job of the catalogue-maker is plain: to sell his or her books. The middle-term aim is not to have them sent back again; or to leave their buyers feeling resentful or robbed. A longer-term aim is to lure new customers, make friends with them, flirt with them down the years: so that of all their morning mail it is to your catalogue that they first turn, and then they won't put it down until they have finished. And the ultimate accolade is that when they have finished they don't throw the catalogue away, but put it in a quiet place to re-read occasionally, even use for reference; and once in a while, months, maybe years later you receive an apologetic telephone-call or postcard inquiring whether, by any remote chance, item 144 is still available.” (James Fergusson)

What bookdealers really mean. A dictionary by Tom Congalton and Dan Gregory (Between the Covers), with additions from other sources

Calligraphy

Calligraphie

Kalligraphie

"Calligraphy has been defined by Stanley Morison (in the Encyclopaedia Britannica) as ‘freehand in which the freedom is so nicely reconciled with order that the understanding eye is pleased to contemplate it’. In our context the noun and its adjective calligraphic are used not only to denote a manuscript whose beauty of script is its principal attraction, or a manual of penmanship, or an engraved writing-book, but also any fancy penwork in a manuscript or inscription or any non-representational flourishes in an engraving." (Carter, ABC for Book Collectors)

What bookdealers really mean. A dictionary by Tom Congalton and Dan Gregory (Between the Covers), with additions from other sources

Cancel leaf

Cancel Leaf

A new leaf, often the title page, to which changes have been made, which is glued onto the narrow stub left by the removed leaf which has been excised.

What bookdealers really mean. A dictionary by Tom Congalton and Dan Gregory (Between the Covers), with additions from other sources

Carbon copy

Copie carbonne

A manuscript or letter that was created using carbon paper, i.e. the second (or later) copy in the typewriter, a device used by hard-drinking authors before the invention of the personal computer (if you need a ribbon for one, good luck). Carbon copies of manuscripts can be collectible if they exhibit hand corrections.

What bookdealers really mean. A dictionary by Tom Congalton and Dan Gregory (Between the Covers), with additions from other sources

Carter's ABC for Book Collectors

Carter's ABC for Book Collectors

An excellent book collectors' glossary, by John Carter and first published in 1952. It is in fact perhaps the definitive glossary of its kind and highly recommended. You can browse the ABC for Book Collectors on the ILAB website.

John Carter, ABC for Book Collectors. 7th edition. With Corrections, Additions and an Introduction by Nicolas Barker. Oak Knoll Press 1995

Cartouche

Cartouche

Kartusche

"A tablet, for inscription (e.g. the titling of maps) or ornament; originally in the form of a scroll, but sometimes used loosely (especially in descriptions of bindings) for round, oval or decorated labels." (John Carter)

What bookdealers really mean. A dictionary by Tom Congalton and Dan Gregory (Between the Covers), with additions from other sources

Chapter book

Chapter Book

Fairly modern term referring to books for older children which are organized into chapters, as opposed to "picture books", which often are not.

What bookdealers really mean. A dictionary by Tom Congalton and Dan Gregory (Between the Covers), with additions from other sources

Omslag

Omslag, stofomslag

Chemise

Chemise

Sammelmappe

Camicia

Camisa

Omslag

Either naughty underwear worn by women, or a case or folding tray into which a fragile or valuable book or manuscript is laid (as perhaps are the women in naughty underwear), usually used in conjunction with a case into which the chemise is slipped, and which the trade, with its infinite gift for invention, has cleverly determined to call a slipcase.

John Carter, ABC for Book Collectors. 7th edition. With Corrections, Additions and an Introduction by Nicolas Barker. Oak Knoll Press 1995

China paper

Papier de Chine

Chinapapier

"A very thin, soft, absorbent paper, made in China from bamboo fibre, yellowish or greyish or straw-coloured, used for proofs of engravings or wood-cuts, and occasionally also for lithographs. The proofs are usually pasted on to stouter paper. Sometimes called India Proof Paper. There are European imitations." (John Carter)

The Chambre Professionelle Belge de la Librairie Ancienne et Moderne (CLAM) or Belgische Beroepskamer van Antiquaren (BBA) was founded in 1946 and has been an ILAB member from the beginnings in 1948. With Eric Speeckaert as current president, it numbers 40 rare book dealers from Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels, Ghent, Haselt, Liège, Louvain, Mechlin and Namur as well as foreign associated members from France and the United States. They are specialized in buying and selling precious books, prints, autographs, ancient and modern manuscripts. All members are bound by the code of conduct of the ILAB based on a wide experience. See www.clam-bba.be

John Carter, ABC for Book Collectors. 7th edition. With Corrections, Additions and an Introduction by Nicolas Barker. Oak Knoll Press 1995

Spænde

Slot, klamp

Clasp

Fermoirs

Schließe

Fermaglio

Cierre

Knäppe

"Clasps, like bosses and corner-pieces, were part of the protective armour of medieval (and post-medieval) bindings. A clasp, either of metal with a hinge, or with an intervening strip of leather or textile, on one board snapped into a catch on the other. Its object was to keep the book closed, relieving any strain on the joints from casual movement. In England and France the clasp was on the upper board, the catch on the lower; elsewhere in Europe the positions were reversed." (John Carter)

What bookdealers really mean. A dictionary by Tom Congalton and Dan Gregory (Between the Covers), with additions from other sources

Closed tear

closed tear

Einriss

A tear in a dustjacket that fits closely together, in other words, doesn't look too much like a tear, as opposed to a ragged or jagged tear. Some dealers use the term to mean a tear that has been "closed" with tape - feel free to steal their tape dispensers.

What bookdealers really mean. A dictionary by Tom Congalton and Dan Gregory (Between the Covers), with additions from other sources

What bookdealers really mean. A dictionary by Tom Congalton and Dan Gregory (Between the Covers), with additions from other sources

Cockled

cockled

Refers to the condition of a book; the wrinkled, puckered, waving, or curling condition of a page or of the boards of a book, which is caused by non-uniform drying and shrinkage. If the cockled page is made of vellum, the condition is caused by humidity. In the case of paper or board, the condition is caused by heat and humidity. In the case of book covers, it can be caused by the use of the wrong type of adhesive or too much adhesive.

What bookdealers really mean. A dictionary by Tom Congalton and Dan Gregory (Between the Covers), with additions from other sources

Collate

Collationner

Kollation

Kollationering

To verify completeness of a book by examining it carefully (e.g.: all illustrative plates are present, no pages are missing, etc.)

What bookdealers really mean. A dictionary by Tom Congalton and Dan Gregory (Between the Covers), with additions from other sources

Colophon

Colophon

Kolophon

Kolofon

A statement occurring at the rear of a volume following the text, relating information about the printing history and physical aspects of the book; often includes name of printer, type of paper, typeface, size of edition, date of printing, etc. Early books often had a colophon instead of a title page imprint and modern private press or other examples of fine printing often use a colophon.

What bookdealers really mean. A dictionary by Tom Congalton and Dan Gregory (Between the Covers), with additions from other sources

Crease

Pliure

A permanent bend to a page or dustjacket. In days of yore some collectors would remove the jacket from the book, fold it neatly in two, and store it somewhere safe.

What bookdealers really mean. A dictionary by Tom Congalton and Dan Gregory (Between the Covers), with additions from other sources

Crimped

crimped

Refers to the condition of a book; a grooved, indented, or pinched condition of a cover or page, which is caused by extreme humidity. It can also describe a bookmaking process that bends the hinges of loose-leaf books so that the pages of a book will easily turnover and lie flat.

What bookdealers really mean. A dictionary by Tom Congalton and Dan Gregory (Between the Covers), with additions from other sources

Cropped

Court de marge

The margins of the book have been trimmed by the binder, usually too close to the text or into the text.

What bookdealers really mean. A dictionary by Tom Congalton and Dan Gregory (Between the Covers), with additions from other sources

(Læeder) kapitæl

Ruginslag, leerkapitaal

Crown

Coiffe

Kapital

Cuffia

Cabezada

Kapitäl

The very top edge of the spine, of either the book or the jacket. Since most people tug books off shelves from the crown, this area is very prone to wear. The recommended way to remove a book from a shelf is to push in the volumes on either side of the book you want, grasp the book around the spine with your fingers and thumb on the opposite boards, and pull.

What bookdealers really mean. A dictionary by Tom Congalton and Dan Gregory (Between the Covers), with additions from other sources

Culacino

Culacino

A drink-ring or circular stain left when a book is used as a coaster for a drinking glass. A handy Italian term which has no one-word English equivalent (and, from the perspective of book people, one of the most useful terms to be found in Howard Rheingold's entertaining book They Have a Word for It: A Lighthearted Lexicon of Untranslatable Words and Phrases).